GWS Giants co-captain Callan Ward to miss opening rounds of 2019 season with knee injury

The Giants have suffered a massive blow ahead of the new AFL campaign with co-captain Callan Ward likely to miss more than a month of the season following scans on his injured knee.

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THE Giants have suffered a massive blow ahead of the new AFL campaign with co-captain Callan Ward set to miss the first four to six weeks of the season with a knee injury.

The midfielder won’t require surgery but scans have revealed a lateral collateral ligament strain (LCL), suffered in last weekend’s warm-up clash with the Swans.

After an impressive pre-season, which also included the small matter of his wedding in late January, Ward was raring to go, insisting just before his ‘big day’ that “we all believe we have a really good squad and a team that’s good enough to challenge anyone”.

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However, coach Leon Cameron will now have to examine his stocks and find a temporary replacement.

“It’s always disappointing to lose a player of the calibre of Callan Ward,” Cameron said on Thursday.

The Giants will be without Callan Ward for 4-6 weeks. Pic: Getty Images

“He’s been one of our most reliable and durable players over the years and has had a terrific pre-season.

“He’ll approach his rehab like he does everything else — at 100 per cent — and we look forward to getting him back early in the season.”

GWS faces one of the toughest starts to the season of any club, with their opening four matches against likely improver Essendon, reigning premier West Coast before facing Richmond and Geelong in rounds three and four.

While the Giants will be without Ward for Friday night’s JLT Community Series clash with the Adelaide Crows in Canberra, they are boosted by the return of Toby Greene and Adam Tomlinson.

“Toby will come in and play some managed game time on Friday night, which is the perfect preparation for the season for him,” Cameron said.

“After his ankle surgery in November, our medical team have been really cautious and built him up to make sure he’s ready for round one and they’ve done a terrific job.

“It’s also great to see Adam ready to go after his calf injury. He gives us great versatility and running power and is an important player for us.

“It’s great to see some of the young guys really putting pressure on spots ahead of round one.

“With a practice game and now two JLT Community Series matches we’ve been able to get some really good game time into the majority of our list, which is pleasing.”

Stephen Coniglio (35 disposals in last weekend’s clash with the Swans) will captain the Giants in Canberra.

Toby Greene will play limited time against the Crows. Pic: Getty Images

Youngsters Jye Caldwell and Jackson Hately were among the youngsters to impress against the Swans last weekend and Wayne Campbell, the Giants general manager of football, is confident a talented crop of kids will look to shine again in Canberra, while keeping their feet firmly on the ground.

“To see Jye and Jackson get out there and play, it’s always a really exciting thing to see young players play footy, whether it’s a debut or a JLT game,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“If you look comfortable at a level, you tend to think it’s going to set them up for a pretty good career. But I don’t think there’s any chance of those two young boys getting ahead of themselves because they’re such good grounded young boys with good families and that’s why we recruited them.”

Friday’s clash sees a UNSW Canberra Oval reunion for the sides, with the Giants seeing off the Crows in round 21 last season, in which Ward claimed 27 disposals in a 15.16 (106) to 13.14 (92) victory.